O Scale Model Railroad

O Scale Model Railroad: Choosing a Train Set

Find out if the o scale model railroad is right for you when choosing a model train set.

If you are new to the world of model train building, you are probably a little confused about where to begin with your layout. After all, there is a wealth of information on all the different possible ways to arrange things, to set up the switching layout and the station layout and on and on. You must make decisions regarding the scenery and the types of trains too. Before you rush out to buy a large amount of model train pieces and scenery, or plan an entire town- even before you build the table for your model railroad set, you should decide what scale you want to work in. Scale will really determine what you need, the amount of space you will do it in, and what kind of scenery you will have.

In choosing a scale you will need to take into consideration several factors including budget, how well you will be able to work at a given scale, and how much room you have to house your model railroad. Scale refers to the size of the model in relation to the size of the actual object. For example, a model that is 1/22 is 1/22 the size of an actual train. Everything in a model railroad layout must be the same scale for everything to appear proportionally the same. You don’t want a tree that dwarfs a 10-story building. When you purchase pieces for your railroad, and they are all the same scale, you won’t have this problem.

The most commonly sold scales for model railroads are G, O, S, HO, N, and Z. A ‘g’ sized model is 1/22, the largest size of model that is commonly used. Contrast that with a ‘z’ model, which is only 1/220. In other words 1/10 the size of the ‘g’ model! The degree of hand-eye coordination that is necessary to successfully work with the railroad is obviously higher with a smaller scale. This means that larger train sets are usually a better choice for younger children. Also consider how well you will be able to see the model up close. Z scale trains are so small that if you don’t have excellent ‘up-close’ vision, it will be very difficult to do any detail work.

Another factor that you may want to think about is how easy or difficult it will be to find supplies in a given scale. The smaller the scale, the less trains, accessories and scenery there are available. Of course, many people who enjoy working with smaller scale sets consider this a challenge and end up making do or creating many things that one would otherwise purchase. A good ‘compromise’ set, that is perfect for a beginner, is an o scale railroad. The Lionel train sets that were so popular for children for many years are an ‘o’ scale. This size train is 1/48, meaning that it is 1/48th the size of a real train! It is easy to find a wide variety of ‘o’ scale trains, and accessories, as this is a very popular size of model train.